China's Trade Surplus With U.s. Keeps Growing

On the record - INTERNATIONAL

July 31, 1993

WASHINGTON — The U.S. trade deficit with China is likely to soar to another record in 1993 and could eventually overtake the shortfall with Japan as its biggest trade gap, Central Intelligence Agency experts said Friday. The deficit, which hit a record $18.2 billion last year, has been a festering sore point between the two countries, prompting threats from irate U.S. lawmakers of retaliation against what they see as China's repressive regime. ''If the trends in the first five months of 1993 continue, the U.S. trade deficit with China could increase by about 30 percent to $23 billion to $24 billion,'' Martin Petersen, director of the CIA's Office of East Asian Analysis, told lawmakers.